1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit arrangement with a diode. In particular, the present invention relates to an integrated circuit arrangement with a pin diode and a corresponding production method.
2. Background Information
A pin diode is a diode having a layer sequence p, i and n, p denoting a highly p-doped region, i denoting an intrinsically conducting or intrinsic or else only weakly n-doped or p-doped intermediate region and n denoting a highly n-doped region. The pin junction differs from a pn junction, in particular, by virtue of the intrinsic or weakly doped intermediate region. As a result of the fact that the reverse current through the pin diode primarily depends on the charge generation in the i zone, this diode is used as a radiation detector, for example in nuclear technology, or as a pin photodiode, in particular for detecting light in the wavelength range of between approximately four hundred nanometers and approximately one micrometer. In particular, pin diodes have high sensitivity and a high detection speed.
Integrated pin diodes have a wider possible frequency bandwidth than individual semiconductor components since they are directly monolithically connected to integrated circuits. In particular, there is no need for any bonding wires between the pin diode and a preamplifier, with the result that radio-frequency applications at frequencies of greater than 500 megahertz or greater than 1 gigahertz can be realized using silicon, for example in optical telecommunication with the aid of glass fibers or plastic fibers or in optical data storage. The pin diode is integrated, in particular, in a Bipolar Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon (BICMOS) circuit. The pin diode is sensitive, in particular, to light in the range from 400 nanometers to 800 nanometers and is thus sensitive to light of a wide bandwidth.